Teamwork makes the dream work, as they say, but what makes a good team? How can you be the best team member? There are several things you can do to be the best team player and thrive in your team. This is whether it’s in sports, at work, or even in your personal relationships. But here I want to discuss teamwork in relationships.
The first thing to note is the key factors in making a great team. In an article I read, 10 factors were listed. These were mutual respect for the other team members, having specialized members, having an objective, adaptation/flexibility, having no scapegoats, admitting mistakes, having patience, delegating, having a strong leader, and having a little bit of competition (What makes a good team that builds success, 2020). Of course, some of these make more sense at work, but certain ones are important even in a personal relationship. For example, having an objective is important even with a spouse. This objective all the time would be that you are always working together to be the happiest you can be. Admitting mistakes is also important in relationships because you don’t want to come across like you are always right. Making mistakes is okay and it’s important to be able to brush them off and try again.
In terms of personal abilities, the article also listed several qualities. These include communication, support, and cooperation (What makes a good team that builds success, 2020). Communication is important to make sure you are always being efficient and expressing when you may need help. Support means being understanding and helpful. And finally, cooperation means remembering to work together since you are trying to achieve the same goal. This is one I find very important, because oftentimes when couples fight, they forget they’re on the same team. They want to argue and prove they’re right. Instead, focus on the goal which is to thrive in the relationship and work together to do so.
The main thing here is to recognize that we are individuals, but learning how to be a proficient member of a team makes goals much easier to accomplish. Whether it’s in sports, at work, or in relationships, certain factors affect the cohesion of a team. The characteristics listed are what contribute to optimal team performance, and they can occur coincidentally or even by use of team-building exercises as needed (Sullivan, 2017).
Sullivan, P., Feltz, D., & Dithurbide, L. (2017). Applying social psychology to sports teams. In J. GrumanF. Schneider, & L. Coutts (Eds.), Applied social psychology (pp. 129-154). SAGE Publications, Inc, https://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781071800591.n6
What makes a good team that builds success. University of the People. (2020). Retrieved February 24, 2022, from https://www.uopeople.edu/blog/what-makes-a-good-team/
Your expression of how teamwork builds up relationships I believe is a great explanation as to why working together is successful. Whether it be in sports teams, romantic relationships, career relationships, family relationships, etc. there are many factors that affect the outcome of what makes these relationships work or fail. In relation to a job I worked at over the past summer, there were many interpersonal conflicts that arose. I worked at a summer camp where there were two counselors per group and my co-counselor and I budded heads constantly. We could not agree on which activities would be more fun for our campers and even worse, when the campers were fighting with each other we had different perspectives on how to resolve the conflict. Skill variety, Task Identity, Task significance, and Autonomy are all important ways that increase satisfaction in not only jobs but relationships too (Gruman, 2016). My co-counselor and I could have used those four characteristics to discuss and increase the cohesion of the group.
The 10 factors listed in making a great team are very relevant in everyday settings because we use them unconsciously. For my co-counselor and I, we eventually learned throughout the summer to become adaptable and flexible to each other’s ideas; every other day we each picked an activity that we believed the campers would enjoy most. Admitting mistakes is something we needed to work on to limit the hostility between each other and have more patience with one another. But, regardless of what type of relationship it is, it is important for each individual involved to consider the other and work together to advance as a group.
Reference
Gruman, J. A., Schneider, F. W., & Coutts, L. M. (2016). Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems (3rd Edition). SAGE Publications, Inc. (US).
I have been in a relationship for seven years now and everything is so natural with each other that when this week’s lesson came up, I completely did not even apply the idea of teamwork to my own relationship. Reading this gave me a little bit of a reminder to thank my spouse for the ability to be such a fluent team that I forgot it was even such a thing. I like the 10 factors you listed from the article. In my experience, admitting mistakes can be one of the most challenging but most rewarding probably in any relationship. It offers the ability to communicate about feelings and expressions to help make the team work better. Even in a sports team, for example, like basketball admitting that you can be a ball hog and need to pass to help the team out offers the team a chance to express their emotions about that and work out the efficacy of the group. It is important to remember the roles everyone in the group. A role is “set of behaviors expected of a person in a particular social position or setting” is vital and key to the success (Gruman, 186). This is really what matters to everyone in the group to make it as meaning and efficient as possible.
Gruman, J. A., Schneider, F. W., & Coutts, L. M. (2016). Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems (3rd Edition). SAGE Publications, Inc. (US).
Teamwork is vital in any areas of work or personal life. I know from personal experience, even though you want to do everything by yourself its too hard. However, to know how to balance yourself in the team takes time too. The role, “set of behaviors expected of a person in a particular social position or setting” is vital and key to the success (Gruman, 186). I agree that everyone in the team learns to work with others like a relationship and to ensure the success of the relationship and overall the team. The ten examples that you stated does make sense and is correct. They help to ensure the success of the person as well of the team as a group.
Gruman, J. A., Schneider, F. W., & Coutts, L. M. (2016). Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems (3rd Edition). SAGE Publications, Inc. (US). https://mbsdirect.vitalsource.com/books/9781506353951